The Ryder Discovery and Naming (1805–1806)
In July 1805, during the Lewis and Clark Expedition's return from the Pacific coast, Private Jeremiah Ryder was detached on a scouting mission to survey southern tributaries of the Yellowstone River. Separated from the main expedition by a sudden mountain storm, he stumbled upon the eastern water gate of the Pūkjājēs enclave in the Absaroka Mountains.
Rather than reveal the settlement, he negotiated. Ryder was a man of unusual temperament—scholarly, discreet, and fleeing his own debts and demons. He spent six months with the Pūkjājēs (July 1805–January 1806), learning their history and language, and proposed a radical solution: formal recognition by the United States.
The Pūkjājēs faced a dilemma. Their true name was unpronounceable to English speakers, and their identity as a 500-year-old Curonian clan would raise impossible questions. They needed a name for dealings with the outside world—something American, respectable, and connected to the man who had kept their secret.
They chose "Ryder."
In honor of the soldier who had protected them rather than betrayed them, the Pūkjājēs clan formally adopted "Ryder" as their public surname and "The Ryder Trust" as their legal identity for all external dealings. Jeremiah Ryder became their agent, their voice to the American government, and eventually their permanent liaison.
Following six months of secret correspondence carried by Ryder between the Absarokas and Washington, the Treaty of 1806 was ratified in secret on March 14, 1806. The signatories knew only that they dealt with "The Ryder Trust"—a private entity, they assumed, founded by some reclusive family of explorers. The name served its purpose: it sounded American, implied legitimate heritage, and gave no hint of the ancient Baltic clan hiding in the mountains.
Jeremiah Ryder never returned to the Army. He lived his remaining years in the Trade Warehouses, serving as the Trust's first ambassador to the outside world. When he died in 1821, the Pūkjājēs—now legally and permanently the Ryders—mourned him as one of their own.